This is part 5 of Creating Characters for a Children’s Book. My homework for today was to begin putting together thumbnails for my interiors.

My thumbnails are coming along nicely. Since this book is 24 pages it will take a little bit of time for me to get through them all. In the meantime I’ve taken another look at the logo and adding the donut. My first attempt looked good but I ran it by Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) and he thought that maybe it should be a little more animated. At first I thought he was crazy but now that I look at it I think he was right. It’s important to keep an open mind when working on a big project.

Even though this is my own project and Bob the Art Director is not a real guy these kind of comments are not uncommon. There are a lot of little tweaks and changes that go on throughout the course of illustrating a book or a series. Sometimes even when you think you’ve nailed it there are still ways to improve. Again, keep and open mind and never , never take it personally.

Attempts #1 and #2

Homework for next time: Continue working on thumbnails. Start thinking about cover ideas.

This is part four in the series Creating Characters for a Children’s Book. In case you missed the other three here’s a quick review. Characters are all approved. Color is complete on two and the third one is underway. Based on the story line I thought it would be cool to add a donut to the logo.

My Homework was to add the donut to the logo. I tried a few variations and I’m not really liking it. It seems to be drawing attention away from the monster a bit which is not cool. I really want the focus to be on Greg and the type, not the donut. I showed my roughs to Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) and he agreed.

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There are a couple of solutions that I think might work. The first one is to take the donut out of the logo and put it into the title of the book. The second, and the solution I like better, is to change the pose of the monster. The front of the book gets Greg in his normal pose and the title page get Greg with a new pose  for this book the donut). The reason I like this idea better is because it will allow me to customize the logo for each book. This will make the logo and Greg the monster more fun and interactive. It will also allow me to have more fun and that’s the best part of all. I’ll run the idea past Bob the Art Director and see what he thinks.

Since I’m almost through with the character creation part of this book I think for the next post we’ll switch over to the actual illustration for the book. Homework for next time. Begin thumbnails for the interiors and cover.

Chicken in color.

This is part three of Creating Characters for a Children’s Book. If you’ve missed parts one and two here’s a quick recap. I’ve been working on the characters for a new children’s book. One of the characters is done, another is in the color stage and one still needs a little bit of work.

Last night I finished up color on the chicken and completed the new model sheet sketches for Carl (the boy). As I was working on the story my alter ego Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) reminded me that Greg (the monster) loves donuts. It’s a pretty big part of the story. Taking another look at the logo I thought it might be a cool idea to get a donut in there somewhere.

So today’s post is going to be short and sweet. Homework for next time: Work a donut into the Greg the Monster logo.

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This is the logo Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) asked for.

Good news readers… my sketches were approved!

If you follow along with my blog you’ll remember in yesterday’s post I showed you the beginning stages of how I create the characters in the children’s books I work on. This is part two of Creating Characters

( In today’s episode I will be playing the parts of both myself and Bob the Art Director).

So I submitted my sketches to Bob the Art Director (super nice guy) and he was kind enough to get back to me right away with comments. Turns out everything looked good and is approved to go to color with the exception of the boy. I noticed the boy (Carl) strayed off model a little bit so I’ll need to rework that one. I was pretty happy with the other characters so I will proceed to color on those.

You’ll notice in Bob the Art Director’s notes (see sketches below for comments) he needed a logo right away. This kind of thing is fairly common. At the beginning and end stages of a picture book there can occasionally be a bit of scrambling around as publishers gather things to help promote the books. In this case it was a logo of the main character done extra quick.

The next step will be to update the model sheet for the Carl and submit the color versions of the other two characters. Once those are done I’ll begin working on a cover and interior sketches. See you then…

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Step one for me is character development and model sheets.  The two sort of go hand in hand. I prefer making model sheets for my characters. Even though it might seem like a little extra work it saves me time later and keeps me from making mistakes.

Character development begins with a sketchbook and whatever information I have about the story I’ll be working on….usually some kind of manuscript and or character descriptions. I begin by simply reading the manuscript. I always read it straight through the first time, no notes, no sketchbook then  I read it again with a pencil and a sketchbook. The second time I read I take notes and do a bit of scribbling. Who are the main characters, what age group is this for, what is the mood? I try to address as many questions as I can up front. It helps me get a clearer picture in my head.

After I’ve read and understand the manuscript I like to get in touch whoever I’ll be working with on the project usually and art director or designer, sometimes even the author. You can pick up so much more with a simple conversation then you ever can by just reading the manuscript or a list of character descriptions. I always take notes when discussing the project. There is just way too much info to trust to memory.

Once I have everything I need I grab my trusty sketchbook and begin sketching. I usually do several sketch variations for each character. Occasionally I’ll add a few poses as well. When I’m happy with the results I send them off to for review.  Sometimes we get them on the first try other times it takes a few more sketches. It all depends on the client and the project.

Here are the beginning stages of a project I’ve been working on. This is an example of the sketch/model sheet stage.

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Tonight’s theme: Fish.

Enjoy…..

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One of the characters in the books, Zuhma Talmadge, is the editor of the local paper in Shady Pines. This is a fun little interview Mary Jane and I did with editor Zulah Talmadge…

Author, Mary Jane Mckittrick and illustrator, Bob Ostrom about the latest offering from the Boomer and Halley^© project. A series of Little Lessons. Big Results.™ stories for children 4-8 and the adults who love them.

Zulah: Mary Jane, how did you come up with the idea for the “Boomer and Halley – Election Day” book?

Author Creator Mary Jane McKittrick

Mary Jane: During a phone conversation with Bob.

Bob: Yeah. We were talking about the craziness in politics and I said, “We’ve got to have an election in Shady Pines.”

Mary Jane: The challenge was to include lasting values, like we do in all Boomer and Halley stories, and make that work in a book about politics.

Zulah: Especially politics in a small town.

Illustrator Bob Ostrom

Bob: This is why I really like this project. We take topics that people are talking about and make it possible for adults to talk to kids about them in a different way.

Zulah: So true. A book about an election that includes lessons about honesty and forgiveness is a neat trick.
Let’s take a short break. We’ll be back in a moment.

You can find the original post here: http://blog.boomerandhalley.com/

That's me at the desk putting in another late night.

It’s that promo time of year again and I’ve been working on this year’s submissions.  Most of them are in production now and will soon be on their way to the printer.

Here’s a piece that didn’t quite make the cut. You might remember it from an earlier post. I had hoped to use it in this years promo line up but the concept didn’t quite fit the bill. I liked the way it come out though so I’ll probably use it for something else later in the year.

Our theme for the last class was Under the Sea (I thought it would be fun to do a snail). We used acrylic paint, sharpie markers, clear gel medium, sand and glitter.

It’s a great little project. Super fun, super affordable…and I’m hooked. Here how it works. First we sketch our creature onto the mini-canvas (The one shown here is 4″X5″ and goes for about 3 bucks). The next step is to paint in the image using acrylic paint. Once you’ve finished painting it’s time to add some texture.

I added clear gel medium to the bottom of this canvas everywhere where I wanted the sand to be . The trick is to really lay it on there thick. Once I had it coated I took some beach sand and sprinkled it over the top of the canvas. Then I shook it over a garbage can to remove the excess. Any where there was gel the sand stuck… everywhere else it shook off.

My students did the same thing. Some of them used sand, some used glitter, some used both. The gel starts out translucent white but dries clear so its easy to see what you’re doing. Once it’s dried you can outline you character using a sharpie permanent marker and it looks fantastic. You can really get creative with a project like this. I highly recommend it for kids 5 and up.

One word of caution. Acrylic paint and sharpie markers do not wash out of clothing so make sure you wear something old or cover up with a smock. Have fun.

I’ll be working on the Bob O Show logo again. This time it’ll be Photoshop. I should be finishing this up soon. Once it’s done I’ll be looking for new projects so if you have any requests or suggestions please let me know. Hope to see you then.

The Bob O Show On Ustream